The first television drama in which Jack had a speaking part was I’m Talking About Jerusalem, recorded by the BBC in August 1965. It was broadcast after some of his other work.
Late in 1965 Jack appeared uncredited in an episode of Z Cars, broadcast live. Few of these survive and it has not been possible to identify Jack’s episode.
Some sources say Jack also appeared in Dr Who and Dixon of Dock Green, but this is not true: several students from the same stage school did appear in Dr Who, and Jack’s brother Arthur appeared in Dixon
Not all of Jack’s screen work was seen: he filmed a scene for The Bill in 1989, but the episode overran and the scene was cut. In 1999 he recorded a pilot show for the BBC, Crazy Jonathans. This was never broadcast.
The list below begins with Jack’s earliest work in broadcast order, and will be expanded as we develop the site.
Dates of first broadcast are for U.K. unless otherwise noted.
8 November 1965
Out of the Unknown : “Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come…?” : BBC
First Broadcast: Monday 8th November 1965, BBC-2, 8 – 9pm
Director: Paddy Russell; Writer: Mike Watts; Producer: Irene Shubik
Milo O’Shea (Henry Wilkes), Christine Hargreaves (Monica Wilkes), Patsy Rowlands (Anne Lovejoy), Jack Wild (Danny), Ann Lancaster (Mrs Bryant), Eric Thompson (Norman), Desmond Jordan (Dr Chambers), Julie May (Mrs Dixon), Nigel Lambert (Milkman), Bernard Kay (Det-Sgt. Crouch), Alan Haywood (Det-Const. Fraser), Mina-Mina (dog, trained by Barbara Woodhouse), Marguerite Young, Jean Channon, June Bland, Lionel Wheeler (non-speaking fish shop customers).
Out Of The Unknown was a long-running series of quirky one-off dramas, often with a science-fiction element.
The brilliant Irish actor Milo O’Shea plays a fishmonger who cultivates rare tropical plants in his garden, talking to them and feeding them with unusual things like diced rabbits and large doses of vitamins. His wife is afraid of the garden: ‘Those flowers are wrong. They don’t belong to this country, and yet… they live all through the winter and never die.’ This “comedy with a chilling edge” featured Jack as the boy next door who gets attacked by the flesh-eating plants after firing his catapult at them and their owner. One of the breaks in the studio recording was to allow for Jack’s costume change and make-up after the plant attacks him. This was not the first speaking role Jack recorded, but it was the first to be broadcast, and survives in the BBC archives.
12 December 1965
Dr Finlay’s Casebook : “The Vision” : BBC
First Broadcast: Sunday 26th December 1965, BBC-1, 9.20 – 10.10pm
Director: Prudence Fitzgerald; Script: Donald Bull; Producer: Gerald Glaister
Andrew Cruickshank (Dr Cameron), Barbara Mullen (Janet), Bill Simpson (Dr Finlay), Alan MacNaughton (Mr Lauderdale), Clement McCallin (Mr MacFarlane), Alastair Hunter (Mr Alexander), Heather Bell (Ellen Weir), James Cosmo (Peter Randall), Kara Wilson (Hetty Farrar), Iain Smith (Davey Foster), Effie Morrison (Mistress Niven), Michael Sheard (Jock Farrar), Yvonne Coulette (Mrs Weir), Frank Shelley (Mr Weir). Plus a choir of 15, and 25 walk-ons, including Jack.
This popular drama series ran from 1962 to 1971, usually broadcast in 50 minute episodes on BBC1 on Sunday evenings. Based on stories by A.J. Cronin, the series was set between the wars in the fictional Scottish community of Tannochbrae.
Jack was one of 3 children supplied by Barbara Speake’s stage school in walk-on roles for the day of recording only, presumably to be part of the congregation in scenes set in a church.
The episode does not survive in the BBC Archives.
6 February 1966
Bonjour Francoise : Episode 14 : BBC
Director: Maddalena Fagandini; Writers: Michel Faure and Joe Cremona; Producer: Ronald Smedley
With André Maranne and Pamela Stirling, François Brincourt as Jean-Paul and Malou Pantera as Françoise.
A series of 30 lessons for beginners in French, it followed the adventures of a young photographer, Jean-Paul, and his model, Françoise. The main presenters were the popular character actor André Maranne (best known for his many appearances in the ‘Pink Panther’ films) and Pamela Stirling, a bilingual actress who played a different role in each episode and said the series was ‘the most difficult thing I’ve ever done; it’s more difficult than appearing in a classic in the Comedie Française.’
Jack was one of 5 children supplied by his stage school for one day’s recording on this particular episode. The others were Teresa Odell, Veronica Purnell, Philip Harris, and Robert Bartlett (a lifelong friend of Jack’s; they would later work together on Jackanory and the film of Oliver!).
6 February 1966
Theatre 625 : I’m Talking About Jerusalem : BBC
The Wesker Trilogy No.3
First Broadcast: Saturday February 6th 1966, BBC-2, 8 – 9.35pm
Director: Charles Jarrot; Writer: Arnold Wesker; Producer: Cedric Messina
John Allison (Ronnie Kahn), Margery Mason (Sarah Kahn), Stanley Meadows (Dave Simmonds), Sonia Fraser (Ada Simmonds), Leo Phillip and Barry Raymond (Removal Men), John Harvey (Colonel Dewhurst), Patrick O’Connell (Libby Dobson), Jeremy Bulloch (Sammy), Jack Wild (Danny Simmonds), Stella Tanner (Cissie Kahn), Hilda Kriseman (Esther Kahn)
This was a major production of Wesker’s famous trilogy of plays (parts 1 & 2 are Chicken Soup with Barley and Roots), previewed by the Radio Times on 20/1/66, p.13:
“…an opportunity to reassess Wesker on the evidence of his most ambitious and, one senses, his most felt and personal work. The trilogy is a saga which focuses on the fortunes of an East-End Jewish family from 1936 to the mid-1950s. The Kahns are socialists, and the play shows how the changing political and social conditions between 1936 and 1956 affect their ideals.”
In the final play, Dave Simmonds comes back to Ada Kahn after almost a decade away fighting in Spain and in World War II. He is determined to escape from urban capitalism and aims to become a furniture craftsman living a simple, self-sufficient socialist existence in the Norfolk countryside with his family.
Recorded in August 1965, this was the first speaking role for Jack in a tv drama, although not the first to be broadcast. He is in one scene only, mainly heard from the other side of a wooden wall, then briefly seen. The programme survives in the BBC Archives.
16 February 1966
The Wednesday Play : A Game—Like – Only a Game : BBC
First broadcast: Wednesday 16th February 1966, BBC-1, 9 – 10.15pm
Director: Christopher Morahan; Writer: John Hopkins; Producer: Peter Luke
Alethea Charlton (Elizabeth), Peter Ducrow (Police Sergeant), Shelagh Fraser (Mrs. Jones), Geoffrey Hibbert (Mr. Jones), Stanley Meadows (Det. Sgt. Carter), Susan Richards (Mrs. Everton), David Webb (Frank), Arthur Wild (Lawrence Jones), Jack Wild (Peter Jones), Peter Bartlett (Tommy), and André Cameron, Rikki Paterson, John Freeman, Derek Martin, Keith Wilkinson.
26 others appeared in filmed inserts, including Linda Joliff, Barry Atkins, Phil Collins, Danny Grover & Chris Cooper from Barbara Speake’s stage school. So did Steven Grives, who Jack worked with many years later on The Ravelled Thread.
A major programme for Jack, playing one of the leading characters opposite his elder brother Arthur. They played two brothers who torment an old lady, and a review in the following day’s Times commended their work: “neatly and unselfconsciously played by Arthur and Jack Wild”. Another review noted they were “wholly convincing and expressive as the two delinquents…and had none of the artificial mannerisms prevalent among child actors”.
The programme does not survive.
5 June 1966
Theatre 625 : Up and Down : BBC
First Broadcast: Sunday 5th June 1966, BBC-2, 9 – 10.15pm
Director: Mary Ridge; Writer: Julia Jones; Producer: Michael Bakewell
Bernard Archard (Nathan Fletcher [the mill owner]), Marion Mathie (Eleanor Fletcher), John Collin (Josiah Braithwaite), Keith Bell (John Hobhouse), George Baker (Matthew Hobhouse), Ann Lynn (Annie Hobhouse [John’s wife]), Alan Baulch & Ann Evans (Matthew’s children), John Moore (Mr Whittle) plus 24 extras, including 4 children: Suzanne Togni, Judy Warren, Barry Kelly, Jack Wild.
The setting is Lancashire in 1824, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The ‘up-and-down’ of the title is a way of settling disputes, “a no-holds-barred, biting, clog-kicking, head-butting duel between men… It is the story of Eleanor Fletcher, the bored and promiscuous wife of a mill-owner, John, the young worker upon whom her eye falls, and Matthew, John’s boss-hating, class-conscious elder brother. Eleanor’s caprice causes bitter enmity between the two bothers which culminates in an ‘up and down’ – and in tragedy since the masters are not slow to exploit such a heaven-sent division in the ranks of the employees and enemies.” (Radio Times)
The programme does not survive in the BBC Archives.
3 October 1966
Thirty-Minute Theatre :The Other Fella : BBC
First Broadcast Live: Monday 3rd October 1966, BBC-2, 8.35 – 9.05pm
Director: Michael Hart; Writer: Alun Owen; Producer: Graham McDonald
Keith Barron (Jim Lord), John Collin (Macallus), Geraldine Moffatt (Monica Lord), Malcolm Taylor (Waters), Brian Osborne (Barman) and extras: Rita England, Andrea Lawrence, Betty Martin, Jack Wild (Pageboy), James Fitzgerald, Sydney Gatcum, Maurice Quick
Journalist Jim Lord returns to his native Liverpool to interview a ‘pop’ poet, but finds himself interviewed instead.
The programme went out live and does not survive in BBC Archives.
14 October 1966 – 16 December 1966
The Newcomers : 8 episodes of the soap opera : BBC
8 episodes of the soap opera
Selected cast: Vanda Godsell (Mrs Heenan), Thomas Heathcote (Frank Claw), Gladys Henson (Gran Hamilton), Jeremy Bulloch (Philip Cooper), Alan Browning (Ellis Cooper), Maggie Fitzgibbon (Vivienne Cooper), Rosamund Greenwood (Sarah Peddle), Madeleine Christie (Emily Peddle), Gerald Cross (Arnold Tripp), Naomi Chance (Amelia Huntley), Arthur Hewlett (Mr Simkins), Helen Cotterill (Betty Lloyd), Michael Collins (Jeff Langley), Sandra Payne (Janet Langley), Tony Steedman (Arthur Huntley), Sally Lahee (Eunice Huntley), Sandra Williams (Peggy Simkins), Patrick Connor (Peter Connolly), Raymond Hunt (Lance Cooper), Susan Bills (Maisie), Maggie McGrath (Esther), Eileen Way (Mrs Brassett) and Jack Wild (Pip Claw), Denise Brown (Ruth Claw), Martin Kendle (Joe Claw).
A twice-weekly soap opera which ran from October 1965 to November 1969, it was set in the fictional town of Angleton and followed the story of a London family who moved to live in the country. In late 1966 the Tuesday episodes were broadcast live and the Friday episodes recorded on the Wednesday. Jack played one of three lively siblings who lived in a caravan at a quarry, and appeared in the following episodes, none of which survive:
Episode 108 First Broadcast: Friday 14th October 1966, BBC-1, 7 – 7.30pm
Producer for all Jack’s episodes: Ronald Travers; Director: Gerald Blake; Story: John Wiles; Script: C E Webber
Episode 109 First Broadcast Live: Tuesday 18th October 1966, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
Director: Julia Smith; Story: John Wiles and John Cresswell; Script: Christopher Bond
Episode 110 First Broadcast: Friday 21st October 1966, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
[Production credits as previous]
Episode 112 First Broadcast: Friday 28th October 1966, BBC-1, 7 – 7.30pm
Director: John Davies; Story: John Wiles and John Cresswell; Script: Bob Stuart
Episode 113 First Broadcast Live: Tuesday 1st November 1966, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
Director: Richard Martin; Story: John Wiles and John Cresswell; Script: Patrick Scanlan
Episode 115 First Broadcast Live: Tuesday 8th November 1966, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
Director: Paddy Russell; Story: John Wiles and John Cresswell; Script: C E Webber
Episode 119 First Broadcast Live: Tuesday 22nd November 1966, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
Director: John Davies; Story: John Cresswell; Script: Christopher Bond
Episode 126 First Broadcast: Friday 16th December 1966, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
24 December 1966
George and the Dragon : “Merry Christmas” : ITV
First Broadcast: ITV December 24, 1966 (various slots depending on region)
Director: Shaun O’Riordan; Writers: Vince Powell & Harry Driver; Producer: Alan Tarrant
Cast: Sid James (George Russell), Peggy Mount (Gabrielle Dragon), John Le Mesurier (Colonel Maynard), Keith Marsh (Ralph, the gardener), Yootha Joyce (Irma), Shelagh Fraser (Lillian), Jeffrey Segal (Henry), Bob Hornery (Wally), Kim Smith, Jack Wild, Stephen Bullivent (Carol Singers)
Classic comedy series set in the household of Colonel Maynard, about the running battles between his staff, particularly his chauffeur (Sid James) and his housekeeper (Peggy Mount). There were four series totalling 26 episodes, and this was the final episode of the first series.
Jack and the other lads are in two scenes. He’s the only one of them with much to say!
The complete series is available on dvd.
5 January 1967
Jackanory : Arabian Nights: “The Young Cadi” : BBC
First Broadcast: Thursday 5th January 1967, BBC 1, 4.40 – 4.55pm
Director: Roger Price; Producer: Joy Whitby; Narrator: Natasha Perry
Robert Bartlett (Expert 1), Chris Cooper (Cadi), John Bertorelli (Expert 2), Jack Wild (Ali), Robert Rylance (Merchant)
The long-running children’s story-telling series, usually broadcast five afternoons a week from December 1965, had a different book and narrator each week. The narrator read the story and there were various illustrations, but occasionally the stories were partly dramatized as well, and this is an example. Jack was here working again with his friend Bob Bartlett, and would work again with Chris Cooper later in the same year on the film serial Danny the Dragon (see film section).
Z Cars
Season 6, episodes 5 & 6 (25 minutes each)
You Want ‘Em— You Find ‘Em (parts 1 & 2)
First Broadcast: 20th & 21st March 1967, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.30pm
Director: Michael Ferguson
Producer: Colin Morris
Script: Pat Morgray
Designer: Jack Robinson
John Barrie (Det Insp Hudson), Leslie Bates (Jordan), Joseph Brady (P.C. Weir), Sebastian Breaks (PC Tate), Marji Campey (B.D. girl), David Daker (P.C. Culshaw), Brian Davey (P.C. Jackson), Nicholas Edwards (Fred), James Ellis (Sgt. Lynch), Freddy Foote (Johnny), Luanshya Greer (W.P.C. Shepherd), Barry Linehan (Arthur Fulton), Stanley Price (Conran), Jill Riddick (Marilyn Fulton), Leslie Sands (Detective Chief Superintendent Miller), John Slater (Det. Sgt. Stone), Graham Tonbridge (Coal Finder), Jack Wild (Jimmy Fulton), Tommy Wright (Bert Millsom), Stephen Yardley (P.C. May)
Jack plays a boy who stumbles on a stock of arms, including a loaded shotgun. Director Michael Ferguson thanked Jack for giving ‘such an excellent performance.’
The episodes do not survive.
THEATRE 625: As a Man Grows Older
Recorded: Wednesday 8th February 1967, Television Centre, Studio 1
First Broadcast: Monday 3rd April 1967, BBC-2, 9.05 – 10.35pm
Script: Barry Bermange, from the novel by Italo Svevo
Director: John Gibson
Producer: Michael Bakewell
Designer: Richard Wilmot
Music: Humphrey Searle
Peter Blythe (Emilio Brentani), Derek Godfrey (Stefano Balli), John Baker (Michele), Hilary Hardiman (Amalia), Ilona Rodgers (Angiolina), Katherine Parr (Signora Zalli), Shirley Dixon (Margherita), Brian Poyser (Waiter), Carleton Hobbs (Doctor Carini), Fiona Nicholson (Elena Chierici), Ernie Williams, George Jones, Dennis Tyson (Café musicians).
Children in the Zalli Household: Leslie Roach, Gloria Talmadge, Jack Wild, Freddie Foote.
The story was set in Trieste, where Svevo was born in 1861. R W Cooper in the Times gave it a good review:
‘…full of the subtle characterizations that make Barry Bermange’s writing so distinctive… it exuded an indefinable aura of central Europe, deftly caught perhaps, by inflections of speech rather than the mannerisms that pass so often for the imaginary foreigner….’
Jack was one of four children from Barbara Speake’s stage school supplied for the programme at 2 guineas a day.
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE; The Black Doctor – A Strange Tale
Recorded: Thursday 2nd March 1967, Riverside, Studio 1
First Broadcast: April 2nd 1967, BBC-2, 9.50 – 10.40pm
Director: Mary Ridge
Producer: Harry Moore
Script: John Hawkesworth (from the short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Designer: Richard Hunt
Music: Norman Kay
Ray Chiarella (Dr. Lana), Charles Lamb (Sam Spicer), Hazel Coppin (Sally Spicer), Suzanne Neve (Frances Norton), Philip Bond (Arthur Norton), Beryl Cooke (Mrs Finch), Jack Wild (Jacky Finch), Maurice Jones (Parsons), Mary Holder (Mrs Woods), John Stratton (Inspector Lavender), George Layton (Rudge), Michele Dotrice (Vicky Crabbe), Noel Howlett (Coroner), Robert Pitt (Policeman), Dennis Edwards (Dr Julius Crick), Philip Howard (Solicitor)
RT: ‘Frances Norton is engaged to Dr Lana. Suddenly he dies and the Police Inspector says it is murder, accusing Frances’ brother Arthur. But is it murder?’
A story about the possible murder of the mysterious Dr Lana, this was the 11th in a series of 13 adaptations of Doyle’s short stories, running on Sunday evenings (and timed to start just as Dr Finlay finished over on BBC1) from January 15th to April 23rd 1967, inclusive. There was no episode shown on April 9th due to a golf broadcast. Seven episodes were repeated on BBC 1 from August 14th to September 25th 1967, on Monday evenings.
Jack was in a couple of scenes as a boy who asks for ‘three farthingsworth of gobstoppers’ and gets an Argentinian stamp from the mysterious Doctor. Director Mary ridge wrote Jack a lovely note afterwards: ‘I thought you played him very well and it is such a pleasure always to have you in the cast.’
The programme does not survive.
Z CARS: Season 6, Episode 144
A Matter for Thought (Part 2)
Filming: Friday 5th July 1968
Recorded: Thursday 18th July 1968, Television Centre, Studio 3
First Broadcast: Tuesday 30th July 1968, BBC-1, 7.05 – 7.29pm
Director: Paddy Russell
Writer: Geoffrey Tetlow
Script Editor: Barry Thomas
Designer: Donald Brewer
Producer: Richard Beynon
James Ellis (Sgt. Lynch), Paul Angelis (PC Bannerman), Bernard Holley (PC Newcombe), John Woodvine (D.I. Witty), John Slater (D.S. Stone), Ron Davies (P.C. Roach), John Linares (Jack Egerton), Alan Haywood (Doctor), Gabrielle Lloyd (Nurse), Geraldine Moffatt (Kathy Egerton), Pat Nye (Mrs Murphy), Michael Balfour (Smokey Bacon), Victor Platt (Sam), Verne Morgan (Mick), Jennie Goossens (B.D. girl), Artro Morris (Headmaster), Jack Wild (Boy), Brian Grellis (Joe Murphy)
Jack remembered playing a newspaper boy in his first tv after finishing shooting Oliver!
The programme does not survive.
KNOCK THREE TIMES
ITV Children’s Series (Four Episodes)
First Broadcast 4-25/8/1968
LWT (A Heyday Theatre presentation)
Director: Bill Turner
Writer: Dave Freeman
A modern version of the story by Marion St John Webb
Music: Patrick Gowers
Designer: Roger Hall
Executive Producer: Joy Whitby
Hattie Jacques (Aunt Nancy / Queen / Miss Papinjay / Lydia), Jack Wild (Jack), Sally Ann Jones (Molly), Gordon Rollings (Dad / Admiral), Maureen O’Reilly (Mum / Irene), Erik Chitty (Grandad / King), Rosamund Greenwood (Aunt Phoebe / Witch), Richard O’Callaghan (Cliff / Sentry / Watchmaker), Liz Gebhardt (Cissie / Green Girl), Norman McGlen (The Grey Pumpkin), Ian Trigger (Goblin), William Shearer (Wilbur)
TV Times:“A family party with everyone gathered together to celebrate the twins’ twelfth birthday. But this isn’t a story of everyday things. It’s an adventure into a magical world – the kind everybody dreams about some time in their life.”
LWT press note: “HATTIE JACQUES is the star, and the twins, Molly and Jack, are played by SALLY ANN JONES and JACK WILD in their first big television parts.
“It is their twelfth birthday and episode one starts with a family party. Gathered together are Grandad, Mum, Dad, Aunt Phoebe, Cousin Cissie and Cliff and Aunt Nancy. As usual, Aunt Phoebe’s present for Molly is ‘off’ – a second-hand grey pin-cushion shaped like a pumpkin.
“But that night, strange things begin to happen and the pin-cushion grows into a giant pumpkin which leads the children out of the house and up to a strange tree which they have never seen before. The pumpkin knocks three times and goes through into a magic world where the children follow and have a series of fantastic adventures. Is it a dream?”
ARMCHAIR THEATRE: A Foot in the Door (Season 9, Episode 2)
First Broadcast: January 13, 1969, 8-30 – 9-30pm
Thames Television (ITV)
Writer: Emanuel Litvinoff
Producer: Leonard White
Director: Kim Mills
Story Editor: George Markstein
Designer: Tony Borer
Frank Finlay (David Field), Joe Melia (Alec Braham), Margery Mason (Mother), Lesley Nunnerley (Betty Field), Margaret Courtenay (Mrs. Dawson), Ray Browne (Fred), Brenda Lawrence (Jane), Jacqueline Maude (Mary), John Rye (Jerry), Peter Cartwright (Jim), Bryan Robson (Dylan), Frances Cohen (Housewife), Pamela Ruddock (Madge), Jack Wild (Schoolboy)
From TV Times:
“What happens to a salesman whose nerve fails whenever he meets a customer? … Frank Finlay has played some of the big classical roles… but perhaps his real gift is for playing rather downtrodden little men in naturalistic modern comedies: men like David Field.
“As a schoolteacher, David has been a flop. Dedicated though he was, he had never quite mastered the knack of selling education to his pupils. With that record, only his mother could ever have believed David could succeed as a salesman in the far tougher world of business. And it is in response to his mother’s urging that he is having a go. His brash, live-wire cousin, Alec, a regular whiz-kid at the selling game, is trying to help, trying to graft some of his own cheerfully aggressive confidence on the nervous, over-sensitive David.”
Another small part for Jack.
THIRTY-MINUTE THEATRE: First Confession (Episode 132)
Recorded: February 1969
First Broadcast: 20th February 1969, BBC-2, 9.05 – 9.35pm
Script: Nicholas Bethel, from a short story by Frank O’Connor
Director: Roderick Graham
Producer: Innes Lloyd
Designer: John Burrowes
Script Editor: Derek Hoddinott
Jack Wild (Jackie), Eddie Byrne (The Priest), Pippy Duncalfe (Nora), Sheila Manahan (Grandmother)
The programme survives. For a close-up in the sequence in which Gran tempts Jackie to put his hand in a candle flame, a cast of Jack’s hand was made. He kept it.
Daily Express 21/2/1969:
‘Jack Wild, the busby-haired lad who played the Artful Dodger in the film version of “Oliver”, starred last night in “First Confession”… Master Wild had a little cameo part to play which would have been the envy of more experienced actors—a little Irish lad dominated by his sister and grandmother, unable even to enjoy the impudence of childhood, and who finally finds himself up against his ogre: the priest in the confessional. / Hellfire has been beaten into him. But he bares his small soul to the priest, confessing that he would like to ‘chop up’ his granny into small pieces. / The priest knows her and sympathises. The lad goes home, not with a penance, but a bag of sweets. / This series is so mature, so well written, and so well edited, that it makes the ITV opposition… look green and thick.’
H R PUFNSTUF
17 x 22 minute Episodes
First Broadcast in the U S from September 6th, 1969, NBC TV
First UK Broadcast from March 7th 1970, London Weekend, ITV Network
Created & Produced by Sid & Marty Krofft
Writers: Paul Harrison, Lennie Weinrib, Robert Ridolfi
Director: Hollingsworth Morse
Executive Producer: Si Rose
Associate Producer: Malcolm Alper
Music: Gene Page jr
Theme song & Special Material: Les Szarvas
Musical Numbers staged by: Hal Belfer
Creative Design: Nicky Nadeau
Jack Wild (Jimmy), Billie Hayes (Witchiepoo). Puppeteers: Roberto Gamonet (Pufnstuf), Sharon Baird (Judy Frog, Lady Boyd, Shirley Pufnstuf), Joy Campbell (Orson, Cling), Angelo Rossitto (Clang, Seymour), Johnny Silver (Ludicrous Lion, Dr Blinky), Jerry Landon, Jon Linton, Scutter McKay, Harry Monty, Andy Ratoucheff, Robin Roper, Felix Silla. Voices: Lennie Weinrib, Joan Gerber, Walker Edmiston
1: The Magic Path; 2: The Wheely Bird; 3: Show Biz Witch; 4: The Mechanical Boy; 5: The Stand-in; 6: The Golden Key; 7: The Birthday Party; 8: The Box Kite Kaper; 9: You Can’t Have Your Cake; 10: Horse with the Golden Throat; 11: Dinner for Two; 12: Book, Flute and Candle; 13: Tooth for a Tooth; 14: The Visiting Witch; 15: The Almost Election of Mayor Witchiepoo; 16: Whaddya mean the Horse gets the Girl?; 17: Jimmy Who?
Filmed in Hollywood in the summer of 1969 this perennial favourite was one of Jack’s happiest working experiences and still has a huge following.
At the time of the first UK broadcast in 1970, the TV Times called it: “A new adventure series about a young boy’s adventures on an island inhabited by fantasy characters with a friendly dragon as its mayor…’ and when the series was repeated in 1971 the Daily Mirror said: “The children will be pleased we’re showing this series again. / Jack Wild as Jimmy, a young lad on a fantasy island where even the castles and trees can talk. Pufnstuf, a friendly dragon, is Mayor of the island, who protects Jimmy from Miss Witchiepoo, an eccentric witch. / Keeps the kids spellbound long enough for you to prepare tea in peace.”
THE ONEDIN LINE: “A Woman Alone” (Season 2, episode 3)
First Broadcast: BBC 1, Sunday October 1st 1972, 7-25 – 8-15pm
Director: Roger Jenkins
Producer: Peter Graham Scott
Script: Elaine Morgan
Series devised by Cyril Abraham
Filmed in Charlestown and Dartmouth, Devon. Made with the help of Dartmouth Corporation and the captains and crews of The Charlotte Rhodes and Danmark.
Peter Gilmore (James Onedin), Anne Stallybrass (Anne Onedin), Philip Bond (Albert Frazer), Michael Billington (Daniel Fogarty), Jessica Benton (Elizabeth Frazer), Howard Lang (Mr Baines), Jane Seymour (Emma Callon), Jenny Laird (Ellen Jessop), Jack Wild (Peter Thompson), Rhoda Lewis (Mrs Taylor), Ivan Beavis (Tanner), Eileen Way (Old Woman), Alan Hockey (Chumley), Michael Collins (Thompson), Martin Grace (Martin Thompson), John Alderson (Bosun),
Jack played a young stowaway in this episode of the long-running Victorian nautical saga. The whole series has been released on dvd.
SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS: “The Wild Weekend”
First Broadcast (U.S.): October 20th 1973, NBC-TV
Filmed at Samuel Goldwyn / Warner Hollywood Studios, Formosa Avenue, Los Angeles; Santa Monica beach, California
Cast included: Johnny Whitaker (Johnny Stewart), Scott C. Kolden (Scott Stewart), Billy Barty (Sigmund Ooze), Mary Wickes (Aunt Zelda)
Jack appears as himself, on vacation. He meets Johnny and Scott at the beach and spends the weekend with them. But the Oozes try to hold him captive.
Jack filmed this episode when he was over in Hollywood for the Kroffts’ Hollywood Bowl extravaganza. He was reunited with many of the cast and crew from the Pufnstuf series and movie.
OUR MUTUAL FRIEND *
Seven 50 Minute Episodes
Recorded between December 1975 and March 1976
First Broadcast: BBC-2, Mondays March 1st to April 12th 1976, 9pm
From the book by Charles Dickens
Adapted by Julia Jones and Donald Churchill
Director: Peter Hammond
Producer: Martin Lisemore
Designer: Chris Pemsel
Music: Carl Davies
John McEnery (John Rokesmith), Jane Seymour (Bella Wilfer), Warren Clarke (Bradley Headstone), Lesley Dunlop (Lizzie Hexam), Jack Wild (Charley Hexam), Polly James (Jenny Wren), Leo McKern (Mr Boffin), Kathleen Harrison (Henrietta Boffin), Alfie Bass (Silas Wegg), John Collin (Rogue Riderhood), Ronald Lacey (Mr Venus), Duncan Lamont (Gaffer Hexam), Debbie Ash (Lavinia), Edmond Bennett (Mr Dolls), John Savident (Mr Podsnap), Jo Warne (Mrs Podsnap), John Golightly (Mr Veneering), Liza Ross (Mrs Veneering), Agnes Lauchlan (Lady Tipping), Andrew Ray (Mortimer Lightwood), Jeffrey Gardiner (Twemlow), Lois Baxter (Pleasant Riderhood), James Kelly (George Radfoot), Richard Stilgoe (Mr Boots), Nicholas Jones (Eugene Wrayburn), Brian Wilde (Inspector), Sean Clarke (Blight), Patricia Lawrence (Mrs Wilfer), Ray Mort (Mr Wilfer), Harold Goldblatt (Riah), Hilda Barry (Betty Higden), David Troughton (Sloppy), Joan Hickson (Abbey Potterson
Jack appeared in episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7 of this classic BBC Dickens adaptation. He finished his main shooting block three days before his wedding to Gaynor Jones, and had a month’s gap before returning for episode 7.
THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR *
BBC
Recorded May – June 1976
3 episodes, originally broadcast in BBC1 ‘For Schools, Colleges’ slot, Tuesdays 2, 9 & 16/11/76, 2-30 – 3pm.
By Nicolai Gogol, from the translation by David Magarshack
Adaptor & Producer: Ron Smedley
Special Music: Jonathan Cohen
Designer: Nigel Curzon
Robin Nedwell (The Young Gentleman), Freddie Jones (Mayor), Jack Wild (Osip), Jack Walters (Llewelyn the Law), Ann Beach (Anna, the Mayor’s Wife), Elizabeth Revill (Mari), Aubrey Richards (Pritchard the Hospital), John Clive (Lewis the School), Talfryn Thomas (Griffiths the Post), Richard Davies (Owen Owen), David Pugh (Owen Bowen), Martin Howells (Ivor), Jan Edwards (Mrs Lewis), Hubert Rees (Mr Lloyd), Jennifer Hill (Mrs Lloyd), Sion Probert (Waiter), David Eynon (Constable), Dudley Jones (The Shopkeeper), Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor (The City Officials)
Jack played the supposed Inspector’s servant Osip (pronounced “Oss-ip”). The action, adapted from Nicolai Gogol’s original, was relocated to Wales. At the end of the series, when the real government officials turn up, the cameo roles are played by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, then best known as detectives Barlow and Watt in BBC’s Softly Softly, the characters they had created in the original series of Z Cars.
JACKANORY PLAYHOUSE: (No. 29) “Michael”
Recorded: August 1976
First Broadcast: Monday April 4, 1977, BBC-1, 5-10 to 5-40pm
Writer: Neville Smith
Director: Daphne Jones
Executive / Series Producer: Anna Home
Jack Wild (Michael Hibbit), Tim Preece (Mr Patton), Norman Mitchell (Mr Shopwith), Michael Robbins (Mr Hibbit, Michael’s Dad), Leslie Dwyer (Grandad), Peter-Hugo Daly (John Gee), Renny Lister (Mrs Hibbit, Michael’s Mum), Michael Segal (Supermarket Manager)
Michael is a 15-year-old truant coping with his father’s disability and his parents’ separation. Jack was about to turn 24 at the time of filming.
EVERYDAY MATHS *
14 x 20 minute Episodes
BBC Schools Television
First Broadcast: Sep 21 1978 to June 21, 1979.
Writer: John Tully
Director: Andrew Morgan
Producer and Series Editor: David Roseveare
Designer: Janet Budden
Series regulars: Arthur English (Sam Lucas), Jack Wild (Mike Selby)
Other cast: Sally Sanders (Gwen), Barbara Keogh (Hetty), Sam Kydd (Sid), Renu Setna (Postmaster), June Page (Girl), Jacqueline Reddin (Alice Brook), Norman Bird (Mr Brook), Glynn Edwards (Charlie), Malcolm McFee (Pete), Tenniel Evans (Manager), Nan Munro (Mildred Courtney), John Rapley (Edmond Courtney), Jane Collins (Ann Silver), Michael Lees (Ken Butterfield), Freddie Lees (Tim Medway), June Ellis (Elsie Kimble), Julie Peasgood (Sheila), Jack Watson (George), Ann Dyson (Mrs Kimble), Brian Peck (Reg Smart)
A schools programme designed to help develop maths skills, the format was a sit-com in which ‘the two laziest men in Watford’ Sam (Arthur English) and his grandson Mike (Jack) were left to fend for themselves when Mike’s mum has to go away. Very funny, with a host of familiar British faces, it was repeated five years running, but a proposed primetime sitcom with the same characters didn’t happen. Jack had a marvellous time working with the great Arthur English, a master of comedy.
THE RAVELLED THREAD
6 x 25 minute episodes
First Broadcast: Mondays, December 31, 1979, to February 4th 1980, 4-45pm
Southern Television for ITV
Writer: John Lucarotti
Stunt Arranger: Derek Ware
Music: Paul Hart
Designer: John Newton Clarke
Executive Producer: Lewis Rudd
Producer & Director: Chris McMaster
Steven Grives (William Sedgwick), Mark Wingett (Billyboy), Debby Cumming (Jennie), Jack Wild (Gegor), Julia Lewis (Abigail Trumble), Robert James (Silas Trumble), John Junkin (Dobbs), Reginald Marsh (Higby), Austin Kent (Lucks, the Innkeeper), John Byron (Sir Daniel Maundy), John Washbrook (Colonel Mason), Michael Gover (Beasley), John Carney (Dublin Dick), Sam Kydd (Jailer), Derek Ware (Ruffian), Royston Tickner (Constable Philps), Phillip Molyneux (Marco), Leon Greene (Colonel Davison), Liam O’Callaghan (John Brown), and Muriel Pavlow (Queen Victoria), Desmond Cullum-Jones (Tradesman), Richard Martin (Rogue)
An adventure serial for children set in Portsmouth at the time of the American Civil War. Locations included Southampton Docks and Dartmouth. From TV Times: ‘the weather was unkind. The two-masted schooner at the harbour mouth was lashed by fierce gales and the filming was constantly interrupted. Jack Wild, who plays one of a pair of skilful scroungers… found it hard to find his sea legs. “We were all various shades of green,” he said…’
John Lucarotti’s children’s book, published by Puffin 1979, contains a glossary of Victorian underworld slang which reveals that ‘Gegor’ means ‘beggar’. The book also describes Gegor as an ‘undersized, twisted, palsied thirteen-year-old’. Jack was 26 at the time of filming.
The series is available on dvd.
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: Agatha Christie
First Broadcast (U.S.): November 11th 1994, NBC-TV
Host: Robert Stack
Jack played a small role in this episode of the long running series.
WALES PLAYHOUSE: ARCHANGEL NIGHT OUT
BBC Wales
Broadcast: January 31, 1995
Produced by Teliesen/BBC Wales
Director Alun Harri
Producer Richard Staniforth
Script Peter Lloyd
Cast included Gareth Thomas, Jack Wild, Louise Germaine, Gareth Hunt and Kenneth Cope.
LOCK, STOCK…AND SPAGHETTI SAUCE *
First Broadcast: June 20, 2000, Channel 4
Writer: Chris Baker, Andrew Day
Director: Rudolf Mestdagh
Cast included: Ralph Brown (Miami Vice), Daniel Caltagirone (Moon), Nick Brimble (Uncle Derek), Lisa Rogers (Tanya), Nikki Grosse (Laura), Andy Lucas (Spaghetti Eddie), Christopher Rowe (Johan), Jack Wild (Bill)
Jack had a cameo role in this spin-off series from the popular Guy Ritchie film.